The Book of Insects: 1. On Ancestry Everyone has his own talents and his own character. There are times when such characters seem as if they were inherited from our ancestors, and yet it is a very, very difficult thing to trace again where they originated. For example, a shepherd boy was seen one day who was counting a small stone in a low voice, calculating the total number of these small stones as a pastime, and so he grew up to become a very famous professor, and finally, he could perhaps become a mathematician. And there was another child, who was not much older than the other children, and the other children paid attention only to playful things, but he did not play with the other children, but spent his days imagining the sound of a musical instrument, so that when he was alone, he heard a mysterious ensemble.

2.

The Mysterious Pond

I never tire of the pond when I face it and gaze upon it. In this little green world

there is no telling how many busy little lives will be born. Everywhere along the muddy edge of the pool there were heaps of black

tadpoles playing and chasing in the warm water; the red-bellied salamander waved its broad tail like a rudder and moved slowly along; and in the reeds we found groups of larvae of the stoneworms, which

hid their bodies in a little sheath of withered twigs - a little sheath that was not a part of their body, but a little sheath that was made out of the withered twigs of the tree. Each of them hides its body in a small sheath made of dead twigs - a sheath used as a defense against predators and all sorts of

unexpected calamities.

3. I provide them with a hive in which the bee larvae are hidden. I even put bee mites directly into the hive. In short, I utilize all sorts of things and employ all sorts of methods in the hopes of whetting their appetites. But, in truth, my efforts remained fruitless at all. So, I purposely used a method that utilized honey for trial and error. I spent most of the month of May trying to locate the hive where the nectar was stored.

4. It turns out that when a stoneworm is resting under water, it tucks its whole body into a small sheath. When it wants to float to the surface, it first drags the little sheath up the reed stalk and then sticks its front body out of the sheath. At this time, the back of the small sheath will leave a gap, by which the silkworm can float upward smoothly. This is like installing a piston and pulling it outward in the same way as the air column in a syringe. This section of the air-filled sheath is like a life preserver on a ship, relying on the buoyancy of the inside, so that the stoneworms do not sink. Therefore, the stoneworm does not have to be firmly attached to the reed branches or water plants, it can float to the surface of the water as much as possible to touch the sunlight, but also under the water to roam around.

5. The ant stood on the threshold, with a big bag of wheat grains around it, and was turning its face away from the cicada that had come to beg. The cicada was stretching its claws, well, sorry, its hands. The image of the cicada is a woman wearing a broad, 18th-century, brimmed hat, a guitar instrument under her arm, and the hem of her skirt blowing against her legs and stomach in the cold wind.

6. ... In a metal cage, the larva of the vertebrate mantis has a consistent, unchanging posture after resting in one place. It hooks the net with the tips of its four hind claws, its back facing downward, unmoving, and hangs high on the top of the cage, its four suspension points bearing the weight of its entire body. Hanging upside down in a perched position is so difficult, yet the fly's upside down position is quite different. Although the fly is also hanging on the ceiling, but it is always necessary to take time to relax, just fly a fly, manipulation of the normal posture to walk, belly to the ground, limbs stretched out in the sun.

7. I remember going to a silk factory once, where I saw a nest of shepherd's purse bees. It had built its nest in the engine room, and had chosen for itself a spot just above the large boiler on the ceiling. It seemed to have a really good eye! It chose for itself a spot where, throughout the year, no matter how cold or hot, no matter how much spring, summer, fall, or winter, the temperature shown by the thermometer is always the same, 120 degrees, with the exception of the evenings, and those days when it is on vacation. Obviously, on these days there is no heating in the boiler, so, of course, the temperature will vary with it. This fact clearly shows us that this little creature is really demanding of the temperature! Also, the location's home and he's a guy who is very good at picking out locations for himself.

8. The firefly often has to make use of a kind of crawler - to make up for the lack of strength in his own legs, and feet - to climb to the top of the bottle, and first watch the snail's movements carefully, and then, making a judgment and a choice, look for a place where he can lay the hook. Then, just a quick, gentle bite is enough to render the opponent unconscious. It all happens in a split second. And so, without any delay at all, the firefly began to scratch away at its delicious meal, a meaty porridge, to be prepared as food for a few days.

9. Of the six species of garden spiders, only two usually rest in the center of their webs, the striped spider and the silky spider. Even if they are scorched by the sun, they will never easily leave the web to rest in the shade for a while. As for the other spiders, they do not appear during the day. They have their own way of working and resting without interfering with each other, and not far from their webs there is a hidden place, made of leaves and threads rolled up. In this they hide during the day, and, quietly, allow themselves to sink deep into contemplation.

10, their body bulging, like half a pea, sheath wings smooth or downy, usually black sheath wings with red or yellow spots, or red, yellow sheath wings with black spots, but some ladybugs, sheath wings yellow, red, or brown, no spots, these bright colors have a cautionary do, can scare off natural enemies.